


Carswell's Guide to Planning Birthday Parties (With a Great Amount of Luck)

by Short_n_Fictional



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: I'm really bad at tags, cadet kai, cinder and cress are friends, don't really do chapters, sorry in advance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 20:04:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12848529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Short_n_Fictional/pseuds/Short_n_Fictional
Summary: Thorne is determined to throw Cress the greatest party yet.





	Carswell's Guide to Planning Birthday Parties (With a Great Amount of Luck)

Cinder walked with Cress through the hallway. She was chattering away about something or other, and Cinder was trying to keep up while responding to the multiple comms sent by Iko and Thorne about the plan.  _ Is she distracted? Have her talk about how she likes earth. Just make sure she’s not suspicious. DON’T let her near the courtyard!  _

Sending the alerts away, Cinder smiled at Cress’s back. Earth really was something she loved. She had been talking for the past half hour, and Cinder was weary that they had exhausted the New Beijing palace tour. Kai had said there would be plenty of time, but Cinder doubted it. She had stalled as much as she could. Quick text scrolled across her vision as she commed Iko:  _ I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. Are you guys ready?  _

“You know, maybe we should go find everyone else.” This was the third time Cress had mentioned it, and Cinder had used flimsy excuses each time to reassure her they weren’t in a hurry. “It’s been a while.”

Cinder laughed nervously and said, “yeah, maybe you’re right.”

_ Iko! _

Cinder steered Cress towards the gardens, hoping for more time.

_ We’re almost ready!  _ Iko responded.  _ You can start to bring her back. Thorne and Jacin are finishing up the decorating. _

Cinder breathed a relieved sigh and looked over at Cress. “Let’s head down to the courtyard. I think everyone’s hanging down there.”

Cress bounced in agreement and said, “lead the way!”

 

\---

 

“Jacin, no! Those flowers aren’t centered,” Thorne chided. “Everything needs to be perfect.”

Jacin grumbled and inched the vase to the left. Iko was flouncing around the courtyard, adding her last touches to the scene. For having only an hour, Thorne decided they had done a fairly good job.

But good wasn’t great. And this surprise party needed to be  _ great _ .

When Thorne had first learned from Cress flippantly that her birthday was coming, Thorne had taken it upon himself to give her the best party ever. She had never celebrated a birthday with friends before, and that definitely needed to be fixed.

Thorne grinned. She would never see it coming.

Kai was standing suspiciously by the punch while Iko twirled around, adding flowers to a vase. Winter was painting the finishing touches to the birthday banner. All was as according to plan.

Except...

“Iko?” Thorne said. “Where is Scarlet with the cake?”

Iko’s eyes changed from bright yellow happy to clouded blue worry. “I don’t know, Captain. I’ll send her a comm…” 

Thorne cursed.  _ Perfect  _ included a homemade layer cake brought by Scarlet. No cake…

“She’s stuck in some serious traffic in the city center. She says about twenty minutes.”

He cursed again. “We don’t have twenty minutes!” Panic began to bloom. “Iko! Didn’t you give Cinder the go?”

Iko’s face morphed to show alarm. “Oh, stars!” An anxious pause. “I just told her to resort to Plan B. Captain, twenty minutes isn’t going to cut it!”

Thorne ran a hand through his hair and began to pace. Plan B would give them at most ten minutes. Just then, Thone remembered…

“Kai!” Thorne swiveled to see the young emperor reaching for the punch spoon. Kai bounced away from the table, arms snapping to his sides.

“Kai,  _ the plan _ !” 

Confusion. And then... a sly smile. “On it!” Kai rushed away.

Thorne turned to Iko with a newfound grin, looking mischievous. “Kai has a plan. Scarlet will be here soon.”

 

\---

 

Cinder grumbled something under her breath. 

“What was that?” Cress asked.

“Oh, nothing. Hey... do you want to go check out the master closet? Maybe there are some dresses you’ll want to try on.”

Cress frowned. “What about everyone else?” Cinder had been leading her around the palace for almost an hour, and Cress’s legs were beginning to protest. She still wasn’t quite used to walking for long periods of time.

“They’re not having much fun downstairs. Come on, this way.” Cinder smiled, but Cress detected something behind it. She went along with Cinder anyway.

Cinder walked alongside Cress, even though she knew Cinder was slowing her pace on Cress’s account. Short legs were not very handy. 

Cress noticed Cinder’s eyes were unfocused, and she recognized this look from her time with the crew aboard the Rampion. Cinder was looking at something on her display. “Everything okay?” Cress asked uncertainly. She couldn’t explain why Cinder was being so pushy today. Cress wanted to spend her seventeenth birthday with  _ all  _ of her friends, not that Cinder’s company wasn’t lovely… she didn’t think Cinder would be this desperate to spend time with Cress.

Cinder gave a distracted “mm hmm.” Cress furrowed her brow. Sighed.

“Okay, then!” She said, perhaps with too much enthusiasm. Cress smiled, hoping to brighten the mood. “To the closets!”

Cinder’s gaze unfocused and she looked at Cress again. This time, instead of weary, Cinder looked... happy? Almost… excited.

“Right, then! This way to the gown room.”

“Gown room? I thought you said  _ closets _ .” Cress said.

Cinder gave her a wry look. “This is a  _ palace _ .”

Cress laughed. Trying on fancy gowns did sound like fun.

 

\---

 

Scarlet rushed through the courtyard, Kai close on her heels.

“Aces,” said Thorne, smiling. “What took you guys?”

“Let’s just say,” said Kai, panting, “that there were a few  _ complications _ concerning  _ the plan _ .”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Thorne took the cake tray from her arms and set it delicately on the table. He sighed, relieved.

A bark echoed through the space and Thorne turned around to see Cadet Kai charging through the yard, straight at him. “No! No, Kai! Down, boy, down boy down boy down, sit—” The dog was all over him, licking his face and getting hair everywhere. Wolf ran over to grab the animal and held tight.

“Spades and aces! Winter, I thought I told you to keep Kai away!” Thorne scowled and tried to brush the dog hair off of his shirt.

“You asked  _ Winter  _ to lock up the dog?” Scarlet scoffed. “And why do you call it ‘Kai’ again?”

A grumble from Real Kai.

Thorne scratched behind the dog’s ear, muttering under his breath. “Wolf, can you please take Cadet Kai away from the party? We  _ don’t  _ need him around to mess things up.”

“I can tell you really love the creature,” Scarlet said, rolling her eyes. Wolf trudged away with the dog in arms.

Thorne took a deep breath. “Okay. Are we ready for the birthday girl?”

Iko piped up, “Cinder has her occupied with Plan B—Plan C? So now is the time for last-minute changes if they need to be made.”

“Right.” Thorne scanned the courtyard. “That banner is off center. And those few flowers look like they are dying. Other than that, I think we’re ready.”

Iko squealed and went to fix the banner. Jacin muttered, “finally,” but even he looked the slightest bit excited. Who didn’t love throwing a surprise party?

Thorne beamed and rocked back on his heels. The party would be perfect, and Cress was going to love it.

 

\---

 

Cress came out of the room wearing a purple silk dress with puffy sleeves a full skirt. “It fits perfectly!” she exclaimed happily. She twirled, letting the dress spin around her. Cinder decided not to mention it had probably been made for a ten year old. The other dresses had been too big.

Cress had a giddy smile on as she checked the mirror. Cinder smiled as well, thinking that Cress  _ did  _ look pretty in the gown.

A message appeared at the corner of her vision. She pulled up the text.

_ Cinder, we’re ready for her! Everyone’s in position. _

Cinder sent Iko back a quick “on the way” before sending the messages away. “Hey, Cress… come with me. I want to show you something.” Cress smiled and followed Cinder out of the room.

Cinder had never been apart of a surprise party before, and she was excited to see the look on Cress’s face when she saw the setup. 

As they walked down to the party, Cinder thought of how determined Thorne had been when he went over the plan with them. Five times. She thought about Kai, and his willingness to help. Scarlet’s homemade pastries. Winter’s artistic touches. Cinder filled with warmth and love for her friends, who were somehow not quite dead yet. Cinder didn’t know how. 

When they made it down to the main floor, the archway to enter the yard was draped with streamers. Cinder heard music. She alerted Iko of their presence through comm.

Cress looked suspiciously at the decorations. “What’s this?”

Cinder grinned and nudged her forward.

Cress tentatively walked through the streamers and let out a surprised gasp.

Following her through, Cinder took in the scene. They had indeed done a great job of decorating the place; flowers everywhere, banners and streamers and confetti. Cress seemed to be in awe of it all.

Iko rushed forward and gave her a huge hug that swept Cress off her feet. “SURPRISE!” Cress looked startled when Iko finally set her down. “Happy birthday, Cress! Oh my stars, that gown is  _ gorgeous  _ on you!” 

Cress beamed, eyes bright. “You guys…” Her gaze wandered to Thorne, who was grinning and rocking back on his heels. He walked over and joined in on the hug. “Happy birthday,” he said.

Cress laughed and took in the yard. She laughed some more. Soon, she was almost on the floor, doubled over with giddy snorts and laughter. Scarlet turned up the music and offered everyone some cake.

Just then, Cinder heard loud barking.

“ _ KAI! _ ”

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my favorites! I kinda kept the romance to a minimum cause... friends who hate that kind of thing. Hope you enjoyed :)
> 
> PS (bwahaha, told you about the return of Cadet Kai!)
> 
> PPS (if you don't know who Cadet Kai is, read my other fic "Cadet Kai.")


End file.
